What Took Me So Long: In my "Club 50" project, I'm getting to where the only movies I have left are ones I didn't want to see or ones I hadn't heard of. This is the latter.
Why I Saw It: (Club 50) If nothing else, this is the movie that introduced the world to Edward Norton and for that, I am grateful. He does dazzling work playing the all-around fucked up Aaron Stampler. Richard Gere plays a self-assured guy as well as anyone. This shade is the self-assured good guy. It's not complex. It is different though. I enjoyed Andre Braugher's small role. I'm becoming a little obsessed with Andre Braugher in general lately, thanks to Brooklyn Nine Nine.
Why I Wish I Hadn't: My constant issue with movies like this is that I've watched Law & Order, where all these stories have been done before, several times, and expanded upon. I'm not sure what the public consciousness of it was in 1996, but the moment they caught Norton's character, I assumed he had a split personality and immediately after that, assumed he was faking it. There's good performances beyond the twists, and I also found it refreshing to see a priest sex scandal that didn't involve children. It would be one thing for the twist to be ruined by simply knowing about the movie, but to go in cold and still not be surprised is a disappointment.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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